Crucial X6 Portable SSD Review – 2TB Model Tested

Crucial X6 – Affordable Portable SSD For All

Last month we told you about how Crucial was bringing the X6 portable SSD series to market and today we have a full review for you to check out! This SATA-based portable SSD was designed from the ground up to be a cost conscious storage solution with speeds of up to 540 MB/s. Crucial says that the X6 is 3.8 times faster than most portable hard drives and will give you 75% faster restores from backup and 50% faster game loads on consoles like the PS4 and XBOX One.

The Crucial X6 portable SSD series is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities with pricing being $134.95 and $284.95, respectively. That puts pricing at around $0.13 for the 1TB model and $0.14 for the larger 2TB model. Both are backed by a 3-year limited warranty. We’ve already talked about this model extensively when it launched last month, so let’s jump straight into what we are looking at today.

Crucial sent us the X6 Portable SSD 2TB model to review that is sold under part number CT2000X6SSD9. Inside the box you’ll find a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, quick start guide and of course the drive itself. No USB Type-C to Type-A cable or adapter is included with the Crucial X6. This was done on purpose to help keep price down. The cost of the adapter is expected to be $2.95 on Amazon with the purchase of the X6 or $9.95 if bought separately.

This drive does not feature 256-bit AES hardware encryption, but you can still secure your data. Crucial has tested the X6 series with encryption tools like Windows Backup, BitLocker, Apple Time Machine, and FileVault without issue. The drive comes formatted in the exFAT file system and no software applications are included on the drive.

The Crucial X6 2TB portable SSD measures 69mm x 64mm x 11mm and our 2TB samples tipped the scaled at 49 Grams without the cable. The size and general feel of the drive is excellent. It has no sharp corners thanks to the tapered ends and the matte finish doesn’t attract fingerprints as bad as other housings.

The enclosure is entirely plastic, but it seems pretty stout. Crucial has the X6 listed as being drop-proof and capable of handling drops of up to 6.5ft (1.98m) on a carpeted floor. There is no IP (Ingress Protection) dust or water rating on the Crucial X6 series. On the back of the enclosure you it shows the model name, capacity, place of manufacturer and the usual regulatory markings.

The USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C connector is located on the end of the drive and this model has no LED activity/power light. All X6 drives are fully backward compatible with USB 3.2 Gen-1/USB 3.1 Gen-1/USB 3.0 (5Gb/s) ports, so it will work on pretty much any device you own.

The controller used inside the Crucial X6 isnt part of the public specification, but we cracked our drive open and found that it uses the ASMedia ASM235CM bridge chip. This is what connects the drives internal SATA III 6Gbps drive to the USB 3.1 interface! This controller has been around for many years and we’ve seen it used by not only Crucial, but also Samsung and Seagate for their portable drives. Crucial, like most companies, may change the controller as market conditions evolve as long as performance metrics are maintained or improved upon. We just wanted to point out that this is what our review sample used as some will be curious.

Another thing to point out is that the Crucial SATA SSD inside that uses 96-layer QLC NAND Flash memory. This is the same NAND Flash that is used on the Crucial X8 portable drive that features an NVMe SSD.

Let’s move along and see how this drive actually performs!